Opinion
3657.
Decided May 18, 2004.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Albert Lorenzo, J.), rendered February 20, 2003, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 5 to 10 years, unanimously affirmed.
Laura R. Johnson, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Jeffrey Dellheim of counsel), for appellant.
Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Maria I. Immitt of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Saxe, Sullivan, Friedman, Gonzalez, JJ.
Defendant's challenges to the prosecutor's summation are unpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would find that although religious references in summation should be avoided ( see e.g. People v. Johnson, 3 A.D.3d 581), the brief and innocuous rhetorical device employed by the prosecutor did not deprive defendant of a fair trial. The other summation remarks challenged by defendant were not so egregious as to warrant reversal ( see People v. D'Alessandro, 184 A.D.2d 114, 118-119, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 884).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.